Starry Night on December 21

The Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) invites to the next Starry Night in Babelsberg on Thursday, December 21, starting at 7:15 pm with a public lecture of Dr. Thomas Granzer about "Robotic Telescopes on the Rise – The Fully Automatic Observatory STELLA on Teneriffa". Please note that the lecture will be given in German.

A glimpse into the observatory STELLA on Tenerife. Image by: AIP

Industry 4.0 dominates headlines anywhere in discussion on the future development of economy. Even astrophysicists are thinking on how to make astronomical observations more economical and efficient. In space-based research, automatization has been a necessity from early on: The environment is hostile to life, scientists need to make use of satellites and spacecrafts as well as landers and rovers. Ground-based observatories, affected by hard-to-predict weather changes, withstood the trend to use machines quite a while. But not any longer. With its 15 years experience, the AIP is one of the frontrunners in this field worldwide. In his talk, Thomas Granzer will examine the principles, challenges and solutions that the development of a robotic observatory involves.

After the talk, we offer a tour over the AIP campus and – if the sight is clear – an observation with one of our historical reflecting telescopes.